Rosemere funds boosted by visitors to Ribchester's May Market

A bumper May Bank Holiday market has raised nearly £800 for Preston’s Rosemere Cancer Foundation.

Visitors to the popular May market in Ribchester were invited to donate to the city’s cancer charity on their way in to the event in the grounds of Bee Mill.

The Rosemere Cancer Foundation, which has a remit to fund projects which help cancer patients in Lancashire and South Cumbria, had also set up its own fundraising stall. Proceeds from the bucket collection and stall amounted to £790.22p.

Delighted market organiser Andrew Wallin said: “We had 81 stalls. It was fantastic, the best one ever. There was everything from crafts and bric a brac to food, tea and coffee.”

The market originally started as an event for village organisations and has expanded since Andrew started to run it around five years ago.

This year St Wilfrid’s CE school PTFA (Parent Teacher and Friends association and the village football club had stalls. PTFA spokeswoman Viki Mason said: ”We made just under £400, which is absolutely amazing..It was just a lovely, lovely event. We were just glad to be part of it.”

This year Andrew achieved his ambition of having stalls all the way round the mill building. Visitors signed in to the NHS app or had to leave their names and addresses as part of Covid tracing precautions at the outdoor event.

Next year’s market will be on June 2, as the May Bank Holiday has been moved to that date to create a longer holiday weekend, with an extra Bank Holiday on Friday June 3, to mark the Queen's Platinum (70 year) Jubilee as monarch.

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